By the numbers: teens and video games

Playing video games in almost universal – that’s the finding of a new Pew Internet & American Life Project study on how teenagers experience interactive games. The main headline: Gamers are a pretty social bunch.

"It didn’t find that those who very frequently played games were more socially isolated or less likely to participate in civic activities," write Amanda Paulson in her story for the Monitor. "Those who played games with a civic component to them were actually more likely to engage in such activities."

While the full story drills into the Pew study for some analysis, here are some raw numbers mined from the 76-page report. (All the numbers relate to Americans ages 12 to 17.)

50 percent of the teens in the report said they played a game "yesterday."

86 percent play video games on consoles, such as Xbox and PlayStation, making it the most popular way to play. 73 percent play on computers; 60 percent used portable gaming devices (PSP, DS, etc.); and 48 percent use cell phones.